How did this happen?
by Vanessa Rowes
Summary: Taken from their lives on Earth, two people are thrown into their favorite videogame with memories of a place long lost and a forgotten duty, all the while trying to assist the Chosen of Sylverant in her long quest!...Kratos x OC. Some Sheena x OC. T for foul language and amateur innuendo.
1. Chapter 1

**REWRITE! I am redoing this because I do not enjoy how it took me forever to get my point across in the last version of this. I might change a few things, but nothing major, besides something very important to the storyline I refuse to state at this point. Raksha and Klara are still going to be major characters, and they are still going to be as awesome as before, however this time I am not going to have them speak Russian. The story does not call for it.**

**Disclaimer: Do not own anything more than a copy of the game, Klara, and Raksha.**

Chapter 1

Hazel eyes were narrowed angrily at the television, auburn bangs falling in her face as the rest of her hair hung against her torso, the strands looking like gossamer ribbons against her pale skin, clothed in a gray tank top that hung low to reveal half of her cleavage, and a pair of baggy black sweatpants with 'Dancer' written in white cursive on the outsides of her legs. Her hands clutched a GameCube controller, jabbing her fingers against the buttons almost in a frenzy.

On her television screen, she fought as Lloyd against a major boss, Yuan, battling them for the right to the use of the Rheiards. Brushing her bangs from her eyesight, he took that moment to KO all four of her fighting group, causing several expletives to fall from her lips. With a frustrated sigh, she turned the game off and looked at the clock, wincing when midnight registered in her mind. Her parents were going to be pissed.

She fell into bed that night, and was asleep before her head hit the pillow. Not six hours later, she was awakened.

"KLARA SOFYA CHESS! GET YOUR ASS OUT OF BED, YOU'VE GOT SCHOOL!" A male's voice shouted, causing her eyes to creak open. With a sigh, she hauled herself out of bed and made her way to her dresser, her eyes half-lidded. Almost like a zombie, she dragged her brush through her long tresses, wincing only when the brush hit unruly knots. When she was done, her hair was as soft as silk as she braided it, a look of serenity just touching the edges of her expression. When that was finished, she pulled on a pair of skinny jeans and a dark blue button up shirt, taking no more than a moment to button it over herself, and walked quickly into the bathroom, brushing her teeth. When finished, she rushed downstairs, grabbing a package of poptarts, and giving her parents each a kiss on the cheek, sliding into her black flats on her way to the door, grabbing her over-the-shoulder bag as she raced out the front door. Her parents merely sighed.

As she jogged down the street to catch her bus, she smirked to herself. It was a routine now, her father yelling up to her to wake up, and her leaving not ten minutes later to rush to the bus. It kept her in shape, although they all knew that she didn't want to have time to sit down in the morning. She didn't want to think in the mornings, and her parents respected that, and often helped her out, holding her lunchbox out to her as she blew past them, or putting it in her backpack, like they'd done that morning. If she sat down, she wouldn't get up quickly enough to catch the bus, and her parents didn't have the time to drive her in.

Just as the bus rumbled into view, bright and yellow just like every other morning, she made it to the bus stop, her body warm and her heart thudding pleasantly in her chest. She panted just slightly, her breathing shallow after the long street. She was quick to slump into a seat close to the bus door, eager to bolt once they reached the school. The bus ride passed in monotony, and her journey to the school library was eventless.

Falling easily into one of the overstuffed chairs, she dropped her bag unceremoniously on the ground beside her. Closing her eyes, she sighed softly, a contented smile spreading across her lips. A soft expletive sounded across from her, and she slowly opened her eyes to an irritated young man with a mop of dark brown hair and bright cobalt blue eyes. Her smile slipped slowly off of her face.

"Trouble in paradise?" She asked easily, sitting up from her slumped position. A few more expletives were directed at her, and she lifted a fine eyebrow.

"You have no idea, Chess." He growled, causing her to smirk at his nickname for her. Her smirk immediately fell as she leaned towards him, putting a calming hand on his knee. He was quiet for a moment, before looking at her, the barest hint of a smile on his face.

"What happened?" Her soft voice sounded. He closed his eyes, and opened them a breath later, focusing intently on her face. It was a tender subject between them.

"...I didn't think..." He started, and for a long moment was silent. After a heavy sigh, he continued. "I didn't think that I'd find her cheating again, but just this morning I was on my way in and found her playing tonsil hockey. They hadn't seen me yet, so eavesdropping, I heard them talking. They're together, and she was reassuring him that I was going to be out of the picture soon." He said softly. The hand on his knee hadn't moved, and the young woman attached to it sighed, shaking her head in pity.

"Oh, Raksha. I'm so sorry." She said softly. Jacob Rutherford, nicknamed 'Raksha' after his favorite female book character, smiled softly at her. He shrugged, as if it was nothing to him that his girlfriend of almost a year had cheated on him. For the third time.

"Enough about me, what about you? How's your life?" He replied. She shrugged, and smiled.

"Normal. I've been playing Tales of Symphonia, and getting my ass kicked." She told him. He chuckled, just as the school bell blared above them. Grabbing their stuff, they parted ways for the morning. And what a boring morning it was.

She was eager to get home, and after seven and a half more hours, she was finally on the bus to get there.

Her parents weren't home, instead they were off at work for the night. It was a well known fact in her family that her parents wouldn't get home that night until early in the morning. So she quickly finished what homework she had, and turned on her GameCube. However, she felt something in the air, a change of sorts. Looking around, paranoid because her family frequently watched ghost-themed television shows, and the possibility of reality was not lost on her.

"Hello?" She asked softly, carefully. The light of the TV seemed to dim, and the shadows seemed to disappear, the room falling into a strange state of no light and no darkness. It was whitewashed as a figure appeared, with glowing skin and dark hair and eyes, lips outlined in black as well. Her body was clothed in a black short-sleeved blouse and pencil skirt, her legs appearing to be one appendage as she stood before Klara.

_"This world is not yours."_ Her voice was clear, and lilting in a musical way. _"Your home is in danger. You must go back."_ The apparition said. Klara furrowed her brow, and shook her head.

"What are you talking about? Who are you?" She asked. The glowing woman was still, before smiling sadly.

_"You must go back."_ She whispered, the sound almost like she was heartbroken. Just then, Klara got a very strong headache, and she groaned. Between blinks, the woman disappeared, and the room suddenly went into color, the TV on the first screen for her game.

She had to skip dinner with her family (who had miraculously gotten out of work 'early'), because her headache was becoming a splitting pain, and she couldn't stand it anymore. With medication from her mother, she said a sorry goodnight, their concerned smiles dissipating. Her trip up the stairs was difficult, because every step jarred her head, so it was a relief to reach her room. She lay on her bed that evening, the pain lessening just enough to allow her to sleep. And she welcomed it, becoming dead to the world until hours later.

Waking up with a shock, she felt a presence, and once again the color in the room seemed to have disappeared. The glowing woman appeared, between one blink and the next, standing straight but still managing to look dainty with a strip of her stomach exposed and her hourglass figure wreathed by her hair, billowing around her as if there was an invisible breeze.

_"You cannot stay. You must go back."_ She insisted. Klara felt the strange thumping in her head, and she scrambled to a sitting position in her pajamas, the same sweatpants and tank top from the night before.

"Who are you?" She demanded. The glowing woman gave a pained look, and fell to her knees, hair following in an arc. Concerned, Klara rushed to her side, hands suspended as if she were going to touch the woman.

_"I am of balance. Your home, you must go."_ She said, panic beginning to set into her voice. Klara furrowed her brow again, but did not dispute.

"Fine. Take me home. But I need an explanation." She snapped. The woman looked at her, as if out of the corner of her black eyes, and barely smiled. It was one of regret, and it had an odd feeling settling into Klara's chest.

_"You will have one. Farewell."_ The woman whispered, a bright light flashing and assaulting Klara with a ridiculous pain. A scream ripped through her throat, and her parents came running. Kneeling much the same way the glowing woman was, she looked up and saw herself on the bed, the window open and wind billowing, blood covering the sheets with what looked like her body laying among them. A blade stuck from her chest on the bed, but Klara noticed that the shadows were too dark, and the lights too bright, and her hair was just a little too dark. Through her agony-fogged brain, she realized that the glowing woman was fabricating her death.

Gasping in pain, she looked down at her hand, to see it glowing, and dissipating into the air in groups of atoms. Another scream ripped from her throat, but her parents could not hear her as they cried over the body on the bed. Pain ripped through her, intensifying with every passing breath.

The next thing she knew...was darkness, and then there was light.

She was floating, her sweatpants and tank top making her feel oddly out of place.

"Where am I?" She heard her voice ask, as if her thoughts were aloud. In front of her was another person. A woman defined only by the curve of the body, with all usual defining features either absent or extremely blurry.

_Please. I have intercepted your journey to beg you: Help him._ A trickle of sound reached her from the second apparition to visit her that night.

"Who?" Came her weak question. The spirit leaned forwards and reached a hand out to Klara, who leaned forwards as if on instinct and grasped the outstretched hand. As soon as the younger woman grasped the phantom's hand, another figure appeared in her mind, pale skin and wine colored eyes, hair falling at odd angles over his face. Memories of the man surfaced from somewhere, but as soon as the phantom released her hand, they were gone, and her thoughts had scattered once again.

_Please._ The spirit begged.

"If I'm able." Was all she replied.

And then, there was more darkness.

When she awoke, she was aware of a shadow falling across her torso and face. A low moan sounded around her, and it surprised her into opening her eyes, the sound disappearing abruptly. Everything hurt as she tried to move, the same sound from not a breath or more earlier coming again. Once again, her confusion rose, and the sound disappeared. A soreness appeared in her throat, sharper than the rest of her body.

Why did she hurt? And why was she in a forest instead of her bedroom? Sitting up not only took effort, but as she did so, memories began to trickle back into her consciousness. Looking at herself as she propped herself up onto her arms, she noticed that she was definitely not in her pajamas.

Now she wore knee-high brown boots, the laces made of a round black cord instead of the flat fabric like the converse from her closet. Black pants hugged every curve of her waist and legs, her shirt slim but so long it was almost a dress with the end of it reaching her mid-thigh and the neckline reaching up to her chin very similar to a turtleneck. There were no sleeves, only a pair of gloves traveling up to her mid-bicep. The color of the shirt was a forest green, and she felt a heavy amulet settling against her breasts. Reaching to examine it, she saw that it was a bright gold sunburst, a couple of other layers making pieces of it glitter. Around the curve of her stomach was a thick belt, also brown like her boots and gloves.

Her hair dripped around her, the strands smooth as they once again hung like ribbons around her. Looking around, she tried to get her bearings as she felt another piece of jewelry on her wrist. Looking at it, she saw that it was a jade bangle, gifted to her by...Raksha.

As thoughts of her best friend surfaced, she looked slowly around. Carefully, she stood, legs shaky. Leaning on the tree beside her, she began to feel strange, almost sick. Almost immediately, she sat back down, another headache appearing, but somehow less potent than before.

And just like back home, everything became gray, and the glowing woman appeared, hair billowing around her head, changing from straight one moment to wavy the next as it looked like the wind was playing through the dark strands.

_"Your home...Is in turmoil...Your journey is long."_ She said, that same lilting voice sounded, but something about it was weaker. _"Good luck and goodbye, princess."_ And with that, the strange woman bowed with her right hand held over her heart and promptly faded from sight, the clearing once again filling with light and color.

After another long moment of confused stillness, Klara huffed and attempted to rise. It was still shaky, and everything ached, but she was able to stand completely straight and take a few steps without falling over. With that in mind, she began walking.

**Thank you, I hope you all have enjoyed chapter one, and I hope that you continue to stick with this through it's rewrite.**

**~V**


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome to the second installment of the Rewrite. I hope you all enjoy it, and please don't kill me! Thank you all, I hope to bring this to a finishing point.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything more than a copy of the game, Klara, and Raksha.**

Chapter 2

Raksha had just gotten home after school, ignoring the multiple texts from his soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend since he'd caught her that morning. He wasn't sure if he would be able to speak to her civilly if he answered.

That was when his headache started, small at first. For several hours he simply ignored it, and went about his normal life, doing his homework after dinner with his father and brother and watching a few television shows after all of that. Only when he went to bed did it begin to get tough to ignore.

Swearing softly, he held his head, eyes shut tight against the pain that felt like it was trying to rip his head in half. Groaning, he sat on the floor, his back against his bed. That was when he felt the weight of a hand on his shoulder. Slowly, he opened his eyes against the pain he looked at the glowing hand, and followed it up to the face of a woman with black eyes and dark billowing hair.

_"Noble warrior...your duty is not yet fulfilled."_ Her lilting voice floated through his mind and ears. He had no idea that this was the very same woman that had visited Klara, a few hours earlier.

"What..." He grunted, hand on his head. "Duty?" He asked. Her face began to change, filling with worry as his pain seemed to have failed to subside.

_"The knowledge will come to you soon."_ Came her voice, as his mind automatically supplied a mental image of his best friend.

"K...Klara?" He asked, voice strained. The woman smiled, and instead of answering him, she leaned on her knees, level with his rather tall frame, and gave him a soft kiss on his forehead, the pain from his head now shooting through his limbs, and making him feel like he was about to explode. Shutting one eye tightly, and fighting to keep the other one open, he looked at his leg as it seemed to glow from the inside.

Grimacing as his body began to curl in on itself due to the pain, he burst into tiny white particles with a shout of pain. Before the particles could dissipate the woman stepped back. She raised her hands in front of her, allowing the particles to almost automatically begin swirling around her hands, and she smiled.

_"Farewell noble warrior."_ She whispered, extending her arms out sideways, before slamming her palms together, creating a resounding _crack_, light splintering from her combined hands. The lights from the young man fluttered towards her, drawn to the splintered light.

When all of the lights had disappeared, she pulled her hands apart, the splintered light shrinking before disappearing entirely. Much like the girl, the glowing woman fabricated the young man's death.

Raksha awoke to a forest what felt like hours later, his body aching enough to irritate him but not enough to hamper his movement. He sat up with a groan, about to rub his forehead to ease the pain behind it only to pause in the action as he noticed a brown fingerless glove covering his hand, and as he followed it he noticed that it ended at the middle of his forearm. Confusion filled him, and he moved quickly.

Jerking his hand away from his head, he looked at the glove and then looked at the rest of his body. He had what could only be described as a tight muscle shirt made of a beige cloth, and a pair of dark brown pants that almost looked black. The pants were baggy, stuffed into chocolate brown army-style boots that looked like they were tied loosely around his lower calf. The neckline on his shirt was almost like a turtleneck, ending just underneath his chin and lacking a hole in the chest for an exphere. On his right shoulder was a tattoo that he remembered getting with his father's permission for his sixteenth birthday. A tribal design of a sunburst, the center having a spiral design, and the rays very straight, thin and almost an inch long. The entire tattoo was nearly three inches in diameter, the dark of the ink looking almost out of place on his lightly tanned skin.

"What the..." He muttered, trying to diffuse the fog in his head. Looking around he saw nothing but trees, and a frown etched itself on his face as he came up short with anything that could help him understand his surroundings. Although dizzy, he stood and began to walk around, testing the limits of his motion capabilities. Finding basic control of his body intact, he began to jog through the underbrush, finding secondary control of his body intact as well. Somewhere along the way he began to get a headache, much like he did before this whole escapade.

Narrowing his eyes he began following the direction that worsened his headache, hoping to get an answer or explanation to his predicament. His body seemed to be moving of its own accord as he hurried towards the feeling, beginning to stumble as the pain worsened. Something felt like he had to be there, and he couldn't seem to shake it, even as the pain began to overwhelm him.

Finally, he could go on no longer. Collapsing, he groaned slightly, and waited for the pain to pass, finding his body unable to do anything else but let him move until he was sitting against the trunk of a tree. What felt like only minutes later, the bushes began to rustle across from him. With difficulty, he tried to rise to meet whatever was coming at him, but only managed to make himself more tired. So, he resolved himself to his fate.

But when he saw Klara falling through the foliage he couldn't feel more shocked, or more excited.

"Chess!" He gasped, catching the girl's attention. She looked at him and seemed stunned for a moment, before she smiled widely towards him, walking slowly in his direction. Her steps were shaky and he wondered why, although he figured he already knew the answer.

"Raksha, I'm so glad to see you." She said, falling beside him with her back to the same tree trunk he rested against. He noticed that they had a similar design scheme in their clothes, and for a moment he wondered why. "How did you get here?" Her voice pulled him from his reverie, and he looked towards her.

"Probably in much the same manner you did. A glowing woman appeared in my room, gave me a headache, and next thing I know I'm waking up in this forest, hardly able to walk or defend myself." He told her, her eyes locking onto his before either could blink.

"Sounds like it, but I got distracted. Another female spirit stopped me on my way here, I think. She kept asking me to help somebody, but I can't seem to remember who she was asking me to help." She said, her eyebrows pulling together as she tried to piece together her memory. Raksha shrugged and tried to stand, finding it a bit easier to move. Although he was exhausted, he figured that he would be able to keep moving. Something in the back of his mind told him that he'd been more tired before (not much, but definitely more).

"Let's get moving. See just where the hell we are." He said, offering a hand to Klara. She willingly obliged, grasping his hand and assisting very little as he practically yanked her into a vertical position. She stood still for a moment, not entirely sure her brain had kept up with the quick movement, and smiled a bit as soon as she felt okay enough to move again. She made sure to attempt to calm the concern she could see rising in her friends' eyes.

"I'm good." Was all she said, before they both began to walk. The forest around them was thick, and for a long moment Raksha felt as if he should know where they were, the thick trunks concealing flashes of what looked like overgrown bugs and oddly shaped creatures. After the tenth time his eyes deceived him, he halted. Klara stilled, looking back towards him.

"Look around Chess. There's something almost... familiar about this forest." He muttered quietly. She quickly stood behind him, her back touching his. It was silent until Klara shifted, stepping into his line of sight.

"Raksha." She whispered, causing him to look at her. "Zombies." Her voice was quiet. That was when he smelled the rotting flesh and heard the quiet groans coming from behind him. Spinning around he saw that there indeed were zombies hobbling towards them. Uttering a dark swear, he grabbed Klara's wrist and turned, rushing away. Her hair fluttered as she stumbled behind him.

They couldn't make it far though, because they found large preying-mantis-like creatures that eagerly snapped at them. Klara squeaked out a small squeak, and Raksha swore again.

"Sorry about this Chess." He said, scooping her up into his arms and sprinting to their left. Neither paid attention to the speed, until they reached what looked like the edge of a desert. Only then did they realize that Raksha should have felt tired, or at least a little bit winded. But his breathing was only barely elevated, as if he had simply jogged ten feet to catch up with a friend, not sprinted several hundred away from a creature.

Placing Klara on her feet he stood up very slowly, face thoughtful as he processed what he'd just done. Both of them stared at each other in wonder, and then a nervous kind of laughter began to bubble out of their chests.

"What the hell was that?" Klara asked. He shook his head, without an answer. She laughed nervously again, and nodded to him, confusing him. "You were right, the forest was kind of familiar. Now I know why, but I don't understand _how_." She said, allowing herself to collapse onto the ground. He seemed just as baffled, following her example as he stared out over the yellow sand.

"We're in Tales of Symphonia." Raksha said, his dark voice quiet. Klara nodded, and then her mind began trying to process the information.

(/'.')/

It was hours later that the two of them were sitting around a camp fire, set up on the sand. Somewhere along the way to where they were they had run into creatures and bandits alike, Raksha now sporting several knives of varying size and Klara counting through the gald they had collected. Neither of them paid attention to the fact that they had a fire without having run into any sort of dried wood or kindling.

"She called me princess." The girl said softly. Raksha's knife gave a loud _thunk_ as it sunk into the sand, half of the glinting metal visible from it's home in the ground. She looked up at her friend, to see his face drawn into a subdued angry face.

"And me a Noble Warrior." He muttered to himself. However, her hearing still caught it from across the fire, and she looked at him with something akin to a thoughtful sadness.

"We'll never be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with family... or Christmas... or even New Years." Her voice began to tremble, and Raksha's colorful eyes watched her carefully as she took in a deep breath, eyes glistening. "It's just us from here on out." She whispered. He sighed, and stood up. Not a breath later he fell into a sitting position beside her, arm encircling her shoulders. Once his body was still, he could make out the subtle shaking of her body as she fought to keep her composure.

"Don't worry. I'm always here to protect you." He said quietly. Those words released a flood, and she curled into his side as sobs racked her body. Long into the night he held her, speaking softly to her until she had fallen asleep, clutching onto his neck. "Goodnight Chess." He whispered as he looked up towards the sky. The stars winked at him from far above, a different set of constellations than back home. The feeling left him melancholy, but he somehow felt that he was supposed to be there, with Chess.

With a heavy sigh full of everything he couldn't say, he watched the stars until the pale gray of dawn, long after their fire had died into nothing more than embers, and then finally into ashes.

\('.'\)

As she clung to Raksha, Klara watched bright scenes behind her eyelids. Elegant dresses, beautiful flowers, and a throne room to put the kings of old to shame.

_She was dressed in a cream dress that clung tightly to her figure until it reached her hips, flowering out so that she had a large circle of fabric that swirled around her legs. On her feet was what she knew to be scrawling metalwork that traveled from her toes up to her knees in swirling designs that looked much like the rolling of ocean swells. Her shoulders were bared, but the dress had sleeves that reached down to her elbows, and a straight horizontal neckline._

_Her necklace was around her neck, sunburst glinting in the light and her hair dripping around her, ending where her knees were hidden. Settled in her hair was a glittering tiara, and several golden bangles jingled from where they rested on her wrists. Overall, she posed a beautiful picture as she sat on a worn wooden bench, shaded by the roof of an elegantly carved octagonal gazebo._

_"My lady?" The voice was familiar to her, and she looked up from her pages to see her guard and her best friend. His blue eyes were bright, and his dark hair fell around his chin, longer on his right than his left, a golden hairpiece winking in the light as he moved towards her gazebo from the leafy maze around her._

_"What is it?" She asked, voice curious as she moved to stand, hands already closing her book between them. His right hand rested tensely around the scabbard of a broadsword he kept strapped against his waist, an action depicting trouble. Shortly following him was a group of four travelers, three males and a female. Two of the males were men, the other a young boy, the woman obviously his older sister. All four seemed to be struck silent, varying looks of awe on each of their faces as they beheld her.  
><em>

_"These four were found wandering through your garden. They wish to speak with you and the queen. It seems to be a pressing matter for them." He said, bowing from the waist with a hand over his heart. She looked them over and sighed, lifting her head a little higher._

_"Very well. Have them cleaned up, and rested. We will hear from them in the morning." She said. One of the men, with long blue hair pulled back at the nape of his neck, took a few steps towards her, her guard quickly intercepting him._

_"We don't have time to wait for the morning!" He shouted, halting her. She turned around and watched him carefully, her eyes piercing him._

_"Your journey has been long, and you must be tired. The queen is busy presently, and will remain so until tomorrow morning. I have allowed you an evening to replenish yourself and your belongings. Do not squander it." Her voice became icy, and the man looked surprised, and almost sheepish while his companions looked ashamed of his behavior._

_"Thank you very much for your hospitality. We will eagerly await our audience tomorrow." The woman said, moving up to the blue haired man and tugging hard on his shoulder as his expression warred between anger and resignation. _

_Nodding to her guard, the regal woman left in a swirl of skirts, book held tight in her hands. She could vaguely hear her guard telling the travelers that time passed differently in her and her mothers' kingdom.  
><em>

When Klara awoke next, the sky was just turning blue, Raksha was humming softly under his breath, and her dreams were merely a shadow in her mind, unremembered and undefinable.

"Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, merry merry king of the bushes he, laugh, kookaburra laugh, kookaburra save some gum for me." He whispered, somehow still able to carry the tune while no true notes carried through his whispers.

And so, their first full day in Tales of Symphonia began in Sylverant, on their way to Triet.

**Thank you, I hope you all have enjoyed chapter two, and I hope you enjoy the next one as well.**

**~V**


	3. Chapter 3

**Without further ado, I give you chapter three! Enjoy, read and review, and all that jazz.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia and all included with that.**

Chapter 3

They reached Triet within four days. Within that time, they collected gald and weapons from the humanoids that they ended up coming into contact with. A majority of the weapons were knives from bandits, and a few staffs from witches. Luckily, they stayed away from any sort of creature that they didn't know how to incapacitate without getting fatally injured or poisoned.

With that, they made almost one thousand five hundred gald. Unfortunately only enough to buy one weapon, until they sold the weapons they had collected, with which they gained just enough to buy a second weapon for Klara, and a few supplies. They got the supplies first, a roll of thin bandages and a couple of gels.

As discussed though their small journey, Raksha got a two handed broadsword with a dark sheath, etched with a swirling leaf design, the pommel of the sword flat with no etching. The sword itself was simple, no carvings and two sided, coming to a sharp, triangular point at the end, the grip coated in leather with metal rings pressing into the leather every inch and the guard making the sword look much like an elongated cross. Raksha was very happy with his weapon as they made their way out of the small oasis village.

Klara's weapon of choice was a staff, and Raksha had managed to find her one that made battle possible. With the design of a thin pole, it was easy to swing, a series of flat rings fit around each other made the vague shape of an orb, each ring peppered with spikes, made it capable of slashing and impalement, the last foot of her staff wrapped in a layer of metal to weight it evenly with the orb on top and allowing her the capabilities of braining anything she damn well felt like (She made an effort not to hit Raksha with it). Overall, it was a fierce looking weapon, and she found herself growing attached to it as they trekked back through the desert again, intent on the forest they'd come from.

"I wonder, since we're in the middle of Tales of Symphonia, where in the storyline we are?" Klara asked. Raksha looked at her, before scanning the desert around them. She almost asked him what he was doing, but he answered before she could ask.

"The tower of salvation seems to be nowhere in sight. So, either we're past halfway through the game, or it hasn't even started. And since I don't see the glow of rheiards streaking across the sky or the intimidating view of Tethe'Alla about to collide with us, I would have to assume that it hasn't started." He told her. Both fell silent for a long moment, before Klara spoke again.

"Then what are we going to do?" She asked him. He hummed in thought for a moment, before he shrugged.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." He said, smiling softly in her direction. Her shoulders seemed to relax, and she nodded to him, quirking her lips a bit at his statement. They remained silent as the sun continued to float across the sky, regardless of whether they met any foes across the sand. Oddly enough, fighting seemed second nature to Raksha. He easily wielded his sword as if he'd spent his life learning the technique while Klara hung back and awkwardly beat anything that came too close. They quickly resolved that it was some strange instinct, and pointedly refrained from wondering any further.

By the time the sun had set, they had made half of the gald they'd spent at Triet, all thanks to the bugs and creatures coupled with the bandits. Raksha had made sure to swipe another knife and sheath, once again tossing and twisting it through the air as Klara stared at the small fire they'd made to ward off the chill. Once again, with barely any wood and kindling.

"I wonder how we're supposed to record the passing of time here." She said softly, looking up towards her friend. His face was unreadable, but she could tell that he was thinking very hard about that statement. "So we know when to celebrate our birthdays." She laughed slightly, the action barely shifting her shoulders. Raksha scoffed, and rolled his eyes at her. A sense of heaviness settled over them, and they both looked at the fire, watching the embers glow beneath the flames.

"We should sleep." He said after a long moment, eyes moving to her still figure as hers moved to him.

"You go ahead. I'm going to stay up a while." She told him quietly. He looked like he was about to argue, but figured that it wouldn't hurt anything, and finally stretched out onto the sand, his hands resting on his solar plexus. Sleep claimed him quickly, and she watched the fire flicker until it finally died out into embers. When it eventually went out, she turned her gaze to the stars, trying to find some sort of constellation that reminded her of home.

When she couldn't, she wrapped her arms around herself, and found herself clutching the sunburst on her necklace. Somehow the sharp spires of the sun rays prickling the skin of her hand was comforting, almost familiar to her.

She spent the night thinking about all the things she'd left behind, and all the experiences that were going to lay themselves at her feet in the future.

\('.'\)

While Klara kept watch, humming softly at times, Raksha began to dream.

_He stared at her in shock and confusion while she simply watched him, dressed in a strapless violet dress that hugged her torso like a corset, the skirt flaring out much like a trumpets bell in a heavy fabric, colored a deep violet and covered by a thin gauzy silver layer. When she moved, her skirt would flutter around her ankles, revealing her bare feet that were almost perpetually encased in the scrawling metalwork that traveled halfway up her legs._

_"You've got to be kidding me. I refuse!" He said, his surprise giving an edge to his words. She simply smiled serenely at him, and shook her head a bit. When she did that, the tiara in her hair twinkled, and her hair fluttered about her, pulled up into an intricate bun-like hairstyle that had the strands that normally brushed her knees only reaching low enough to barely tickle her elbows._

_"It's not like I'm asking you to murder the queen. I'm only asking you to watch them when my mother and I are not. You're going to be the third party in debating the answer of their argument." She told him. He scowled, but softened as he looked at the princess beside him. In the soft golden light that bathed the kingdom during daytime, she looked almost like she was glowing as they stood in the hallway just outside of the throne room._

_"If you insist." He finally gave in, shoulders slumping in his dark brown long sleeved shirt, the diamond cut neckline reaching almost to his shoulders, a v-neck revealing his sharp collarbone. His black pants were slim, fitting snugly over the tops of his boots, creating an overall neat look despite his wild and unruly hair that was longer on one side than the other, a somewhat thin braid being held in place by his golden hairpiece. The princess smirked triumphantly at him, and he smiled at her as well._

_"You're not the captain of the royal guard for nothing, you know. We're going to be counting on you to watch them closely, to see if they're worthy of our assistance in this discrimination they're trying to stop." She told him, beginning to grin. He simply sighed and shook his head, placing his hand on the grip of his sword, tied firmly in place at his hip. Chuckling, he looked at his best friend, and bowed from the waist._

_"Alright, princess. Lead the way." He said, gesturing to the doors they stood just outside of, leading to the throne room. She flashed him a smile and tilted her chin upwards a bit as the doors opened in front of them._

_They strode together until they reached the throne, where he simply stood beside the tall back of the throne as the princess settled herself in, making sure that her hair was in place. He smiled in a brotherly way when she turned towards him to get a second opinion on her look. Smirking at her, he winked and mimed tugging on his collar. She scrunched her face a bit, and he fought the laughter that began to bubble up in his chest._

_However, he quickly schooled his expression into a blank one as the queen stepped regally into the room. She wore a dress made of a heavy material, the skirt consisting of nearly four layers that stopped at her ankles, revealing her own bare feet covered in metalwork much like her daughter, only instead of a form akin to an ocean swell it was angular, like the facets of a diamond. The sleeves were long and the neckline was square, a glinting necklace hugging her neck and collarbone, dripping with elegance like the crown nestled on her head._

_When she (along with his second in command standing as her guard) got settled in like the princess and himself, she nodded towards the large double doors nearly a football field away from them._

_"Allow them in." Her authoritative voice echoed through the hall. After two heartbeats, the doors opened slowly, allowing the four trespassers to walk towards the dais that the thrones were settled onto, nearly two feet above the floor._

_They knelt before the royals, heads lowered. Each were dressed in the clothes they had arrived in, cleaned and mended to a point that they looked almost like they belonged. The princess watched them carefully with her sharp eyes as they repeatedly glanced up to the dais. Taking a deep breath, the princess spoke._

_"The queen and I have decided to test your hearts and intentions. You will remain here for fourteen days under surveillance, and at the end of these days we will decide if you are worthy of Arcadia's power." She said, her voice radiating power. The man with the blue hair looked up in shock, getting to his feet almost in the blink of an eye._

_"How can you say that? We have to stop the discrimination now! Not in fourteen days!" He yelled at them, standing very aggressively._

_In defense of the princess, he gripped his scabbard, ready to defend his friend. However, it wasn't needed as the woman of the odd group stood as well, putting her hand on the blue haired man's shoulder. After sharing a stern look with him, she looked at the royals._

_"Thank you for allowing us to stay, we can only hope to be worthy of your assistance." She said, bowing. He glanced at the princess, hand still on his scabbard, as she raised an eyebrow. As she nodded to the strangers, he looked back at them, standing in a very relaxed way._

_"The head of the royal guard shall accompany you when the queen and I cannot." The princess said, looking at him, and he stepped out from beside her throne. All eyes fell on him as he turned around right to face her about a foot and a half in front of her throne. Putting his hand over his heart, he bowed low from the waist, his eyes closing in respect. Standing straight, he repeated the process in front of the queen, and gave his second in command a very meaningful look, earning a quick nod from the woman with sandy colored hair that fell to her shoulder blades._

_As elegantly as he could, he stepped towards the front of the dais, a small piece of the front falling to create steps down to the ground. The four travelers watched him, standing as soon as he reached them. Immediately after his feet left the final step, they lifted once again to create the flawless dais, as if they had never existed beforehand._

_When he was a foot away from the four travelers, he spun back around, and placed his hand over his heart once again and bowed low. The two royals stood in tandem, causing the travelers to watch in interest as they repeated their guard's motion, placing their hands on their collarbone over their hearts, and bowed from the waist. As they stood straight once again, the five of them turned to leave, the feeling of three sets of eyes on their backs all the way out the doors._

Raksha awoke to the gray sky of dawn, Klara sitting cross legged near him with her staff across her lap. She seemed to be meditating, and he thought back to his dream, the details becoming fuzzy almost immediately. Sitting up with a groan, he looked over at her to notice that she was opening her eyes to look at him.

"Good morning." She greeted softly, hazel eyes clear and alight with something he couldn't discern. For a long moment he stared at her, his mind tickling in recognition. Just as it came into focus, he lost his grip on the thought as his name was called. Focusing on his friend, he noted the concern he saw there, and smiled softly.

"Sorry. I spaced for a minute. Why do you look like you're meditating?" He asked. Her face morphed into a smirk, and a quick girlish giggle burst from her chest.

"Well, at least it looks right. I was trying to meditate, and see if I'm capable of anything. You've got fantastic strength and sword skills that I know for a fact you didn't possess before we got here, and right now I've got diddly squat." She told him, her eyes looking over him carefully. He smiled sheepishly, but nodded in thought.

"What did you find?" He asked. She smiled.

"I assumed that I'm a magic user, and I believe that I was right. As soon as I touched against this strange... feeling in my chest, words buzzed through my head as fast as lightning. But as soon as you woke up, the feeling and the words were gone." She told him, gripping her staff and using it to heave herself to her feet as he watched her. She seemed oddly...worn. Like she'd seen much and found it difficult to wrap her head around. The expression was not a pleasant one to see on her face, and he quickly hummed in thought.

"Sounds plausible." He said, heaving himself to his feet, and smiled down at her, his six foot three height almost dwarfing her five foot four. She scrunched her face up at him, sticking her tongue out at him, and a flash of memory flitted behind his irises. Narrowing his eyes in thought, he simply gave her smirk and ruffled her hair, left down to pool in her lap when she was sitting.

Letting out an irritated squawk, she ran her fingers through her hair, before pulling it up and twisting it into a messy bun and tying it with one of the leather cords they had gotten from a bandits' boot.

Easily, they continued walking towards the forest in which they had both woken nearly five days ago.

**Thank you, I hope you all have enjoyed chapter three, and I hope that you continue to enjoy them. Farewell.  
><strong>

**~V**


	4. Chapter 4

**Welcome to Chapter four. Read, review, and I'm terribly sorry for the spotty updates! Please enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. If I did, then players wouldn't have to choose between Kratos and Zelos.**

Chapter 4

It was their second day in the forest that it happened. Klara decided that she would attempt casting, having meditated every other evening since the desert, brushing against the power she knew she had. She stood in the small stream they had made camp near for the night, her shoes resting right beside Raksha as he settled on a somewhat large boulder near the waters' edge, the boulder strangely larger than the others that were strewn randomly between the water and the trees. He was tossing his knife again, flipping and twisting it through the air between his two hands, watching it lazily with a pensive expression. Beside him lay his sword, sheathed and resting against Klara's shoes with the small knife scabbard beside it.

Several long and silent moments passed, the water sliding past her ankles with a few tiny fish slithering past her. Finally, she sighed in resignation.

"I give up." She said, shaking her hair, pulled back in a loose braid at the nape of her neck. Turning towards Raksha, she walked out of the stream, just as he caught his knife and sheathed it, setting it down beside his sword with a small smile.

"You can't give up now, Chess. I'm sure that you'll get it." He encouraged, bringing his knees towards his chest loosely and draping his arms over them. She shrugged a bit, looking very unhappy at herself as she spun her staff lazily in thought. Raksha simply watched her, his brotherly smile still firmly in place.

"The only question is when. The Tower of Salvation appeared yesterday, and I still can't do any magic. At this rate, I'll be dead weight if we join the Chosens' group." She huffed angrily, stepping up beside Raksha. It was just as she was about to settle down on the rock with him that the bushes began to rustle, the sound causing both to turn quickly in preparation for a threat.

When the bushes finally stopped rustling two boys emerged, obviously in the middle of a heated argument. Klara and Raksha relaxed immediately in recognition, and shared a smirk as they glanced at each other, before regaining their confused expressions while staring at the boys.

"Can we help you?" She called, easily catching both boy's attentions. Their argument died in their throats as they both looked towards the man and woman near the stream bed. For a long moment the two of them gaped like fish, leaving Raksha and Klara to appear as if they questioned the twos' sanity. However, Lloyd was the first to recover, much to the unmentioned shock of the man on the rock and the woman beside him.

"We're headed to Triet to try and find our friend." The boy clad in red stated. Raksha smirked while Klara simply shifted her weight to her right foot, closer to her shoes, both still resting beside Raksha's sword and knife.

"Is there any way we could help?" She asked them with curiosity thick in her voice. They looked at her for a long moment before turning to each other and dissolving into whispers, leaving Klara to look at Raksha in confusion. Her friend simply shrugged, and grinned as he absently grabbed his sword and tied it to the belt around his waist, on his right side. The action seemed to catch the attention of the two boys, bringing them back to the two people waiting on them before they continued with their hushed conversation. While they finished debating Raksha grabbed his knife, strapping it horizontally across his belt on the back, and handed Klara her tall boots.

"Okay, do either of you know the way to Triet?" Lloyd asked them. Both of them paused what they were doing and nodded, faces relaxed. The red clad boy turned to his younger friend, who sighed heavily, muttering underneath his breath. "Then would you lead us there?" He asked. Raksha grinned, and nodded once.

"Sure, just let Chess get her boots back on." He said, gesturing to the woman who handed him her staff and pulled herself up onto the rock he was previously sitting on. Lloyd and Genis looked at them, and nodded, moving a little closer to the river in interest.

"I'm Lloyd, and this is my friend Genis." Lloyd said, gesturing to himself and his small friend as he introduced them. Raksha simply grinned, and pointed to himself, the bandage that covered his tattoo standing out against his lightly tanned skin. They'd had a feeling that the tattoo would attract the wrong kind of attention.

"You can call me Raksha, and as you've gathered, this is Chess." He said, pointing to the woman that was just tying the knots at her knees. She looked up at her nickname, and smiled at them, nodding as she hopped off of the rock. Leaning down, she grabbed their drawstring bag from the shadow of the rock and stood straight once again, offering the bag to the man. He wordlessly took the bag from her while handing her the staff, swinging the bag over his shoulders and double checking that they had everything. The sight of two people so relaxed caught Lloyd and Genis off guard for a moment, leaving them without words.

"Shall we be going?" Klara asked softly, surprising them out of their stunned stupor enough to nod slowly. Quickly, Lloyd closed the distance between the two pairs, Genis falling behind him. The woman and man left enough space between them for the two boys to fit comfortably into as they turned away from the stream.

"Why were you two out in the middle of the forest, anyway?" Genis asked, suspicious. Raksha hummed, smirking towards the much shorter boy in blatant amusement.

"Why indeed, little man?" He asked, laughing at the darkening of the smaller boy's expression and the confused look of Lloyd. Klara simply rolled her eyes, and sighed heavily at her friend.

"You're impossible." Raksha grinned, while both younger boys looked towards the woman. "We travel because we don't have anywhere better to be. I guess you could call us something similar to mercenaries." She told them, watching their expressions clear a bit. It seemed that the boys had more questions than they were willing to answer, so she quickly shot Raksha a loaded look. He simply grinned in answer.

"So, tell us about this friend of yours. Is she pretty?" He asked slyly. If the heat of he approaching desert hadn't already turned Lloyd as red as his coat, then that question would have surely done the trick. The sight had Raksha laughing heartily, while Klara only let a smile slip despite the snickers that were trying to fight their way from her chest.

"Raksha, come on. Stop picking on them." She said, smiling despite her efforts not to. Raksha slumped a bit, and sighed dramatically.

"If I must." He almost whined. At that, Klara did giggle. Even Lloyd snickered a bit at the display of humor. "But seriously, why are you guys going all this way for a girl?" He asked, all traces of humor disappearing. Klara even seemed to sober up as she realized just how far they were about to go over that very girl.

"We were banished from our village." Lloyd immediately answered. Raksha nodded, as if spurring him on to tell the rest of his tale. "We were supposed to travel with our friend, but she and her two other companions left without us." He finished. Klara hummed in understanding.

"So with nowhere to go, and your friend leaving you behind, you figured that you'd just go out into the wilderness with no more than the name of a small oasis city? I'm glad that we were there to help you guys out." She said, smiling down at the two boys who seemed to be bowing their heads sheepishly. Raksha simply shrugged nonchalantly.

"That sounds like a pretty good reason to me. Especially if you guys were close friends." Raksha said, causing the boys to perk up a bit. "Hell, I'd do it." He said. Klara rolled her eyes, but didn't comment.

After that, their journey lapsed into silence. The lush treeline slowly faded from view behind them as the sun rose and fell through the sky. Finally, what felt like an hour after sunset, Raksha called them to a stop.

"I think that's enough for today. We should get some rest so that we can continue tomorrow." The man said, watching as the boys immediately fell onto the sand in relief. They quickly unloaded their sleeping bags, and were asleep almost instantly as Klara and Raksha watched them. It took only a few more moments before Klara fell into a dreamless sleep, Raksha turning his gaze skywards to watch the stars as they winked into existence.

_She had the day off, the second in the fourteen days that the trespassers were there, and she found them in her library. The man with the blue hair was lounging against one of the bookshelves, chatting easily with the woman of their group. Her sibling could be seen browsing through the books, obviously searching for something child-friendly. However the final man was not with them, instead choosing to stand beside the princess._

_"Your friends are...energetic." She hummed, watching them all with only the barest of interest. Instead of apologizing (or even agreeing with her), he simply sighed, causing her to giggle daintily. "You do not enjoy their company?" She asked, a bit curious. The auburn haired man shrugged a bit, shaking his head just slightly._

_"They're...tiring." He answered quietly. She smiled, and continued to watch their antics._

_"I can see that. You must be a very patient man." She told him. He looked at her, a single eyebrow raised. She noticed that he had kept his weapon with him, and that he seemed to have the same habit as her guard. His hand rested on his scabbard where it was tied to his belt, although he seemed to be utterly relaxed._

_If she was being completely honest with herself, she would admit that the man was handsome. He practically lounged wherever he stood, lean body clothed tightly enough that his physique was obvious, but covered enough to be appropriate for most anywhere he went, and the messiness of his hair fell over his eyes to make him look sexy._

_But she wasn't, and she was sure that she wouldn't be for a long time. So of course, she simply smiled and left him standing in the upper landing to search for a good book. She wasn't aware of the ruby eyes that followed her as she walked easily into the deeper parts of the library._

Klara woke before the sun rose the next morning to the faint sound of humming, her eyes opening to find that instead of Raksha, (as she had thought it would be) it was Lloyd humming a melody softly to himself. For a moment it sounded familiar, but in another moment it was gone and she listened to the foreign melody with a smile.

"That's a lovely melody, Lloyd. Where did you learn it?" She asked softly, so as not to wake the silver-haired boy and the older man that seemed to have nodded off, arms crossed over his chest. Despite being quiet, Lloyd jumped nearly out of his skin, humming abruptly stopping.

"Chess? It's not even dawn. Why are you up?" He asked, looking pale as a ghost. She smiled softly at him and shrugged, her long hair falling forward over her shoulder. For a moment she thought about asking once again about the song, but she decided to let it slide, she could always catch him singing it at a later time and ask him then.

"I don't need to sleep any longer." She said, standing and stretching with her arms over her head. As she relaxed, she looked down at her best friend, kicking his calf enough to move it half a foot, effectively waking him. He groaned, and rolled onto his side. "Wake up lazy ass. We've got to get an early start if we want to get to Triet before these kids are eighty." She snapped, answered once again by a groan. Looking at Lloyd, who watched in amusement as she rolled her eyes theatrically and kicked him lightly once again.

"Alright, I'm up." He groaned, sounding slightly annoyed. "There any way you could wake me up nicer?" He asked, sitting up and shaking his hand through his hair, letting loose a shower of fine sand down his back.

"Nope." She replied, popping the 'p' loudly. He rolled his eyes, but pulled himself up to wake up the silver haired boy, ignoring the blatant laughter that Lloyd was trying to stifle as he watched the two elders interact.

"Harpy." He muttered, just as Klara was picking up her staff and their small bag. Raising an eyebrow, she measured the weight of the bag, confusing Lloyd and the newly woken Genis as they watched, before she promptly threw it at her best friend's head, getting a direct bulls-eye and causing Lloyd and Genis to burst into bright laughter at Raksha's call of indignation.

When he looked at her accusingly, she simply grinned and gave him a short bow from the waist. He rolled his eyes, but couldn't find it in him to be mad at her as he felt the edges of his lips lifting and a chuckle rumbling through his chest.

It was always better to start a journey on a light note he figured, especially when the journey was going to be longer and harder than either boy imagined for themselves. That was about the time Noishe caught up to them from wherever he'd run off to, surprising Klara and Raksha with his size. He was literally the size of a horse, and a brief thought jumped through his mind. Could the animal actually be ridden?

**See you next chapter! Ciao!**

**~V**


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm so terribly sorry for the late update! This chapter has gotten me twisted into knots for months now! Finally, I've been able to churn it out and make it a bit longer than the rest to say I'm sorry! Please enjoy, and I thank all of my readers that have stuck with this!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own. If I did, then Kratos would not be a bad guy.**

Chapter 5

Triet was tiny, of that Klara was sure. When they entered the small oasis town, they had to be careful. Renegades were running rampant through the town, and they had hung a wanted poster of Lloyd, one that was just about as bad as the game had portrayed it. For Raksha and Klara, it was a fairly humorous picture, and they quickly grabbed it from the bulletin board, stuffing it into their bag for a barrel of laughs later.

Lloyd and Genis were quick in their journey through the town, leaving Raksha and Klara to stand with Noishe underneath the wooden overhang for no more than a few minutes. The two boys were lucky, as they weren't spotted and captured on their journey back like when they travel out towards the seal. However their luck promptly ran out, because as soon as they stepped through the front gateway the Desians caught them, just like Klara and Raksha knew they would.

At least Klara thought they were Desians. It was exceedingly hard to tell the difference between the two organizations that were coincidentally run by Cruxis, and Klara frankly didn't feel up to figuring it out. So obviously, she didn't. Both she and Raksha decided to fight the assembled group, her best friend moving as if he'd been sword-fighting all his life, her own staff-work coming to her as easily as breathing, as if she had done those moves many times before. For the briefest of moments she wondered where this ability was when they'd first shown up.

Within moments of their victory Lloyd was unconscious, and both Klara and Raksha had spun around to deal with the renegades (she knew these guys for sure from the game because of the destination they're brought to). Klara stood just in front of Lloyd, her staff held comfortably between her hands in a warrior's stance while Raksha stood just to the left of her, slightly in front of Genis.

The renegades rushed towards them, and Raksha remained still, sword poised at a comfortable angle that would allow for immediate action. Only a few feet remained between them, and even those were very quickly dwindling. It was when they were swinging towards him with their swords did he move. Fluidly he ducked, sliding past the one that had swung at him into the small throng of fighters spinning and twisting with his sword in a way that could only be described as dancing.

Klara simply swung powerfully towards any renegade that got close to her, knocking several of them on their backs, breathless. That was when she noticed that there were more than she'd originally believed there would be. Instead of the measly five or six, there were nearly fifteen of them, and they were adaptable. Each wave got smarter, were able to dodge more punches, and went after Genis as he cast spells to keep the two remaining melee fighters from getting completely overwhelmed.

However, their opponents finally landed a set of lucky hits, making Raksha join Lloyd in unconsciousness and leaving Klara favoring her side as she knelt beside her best friend. Thankfully Genis was unharmed, but with a quickly whispered 'sorry' he allowed himself to be dragged away with Lloyd, supported by two of the renegades.

Klara pulled in a sharp breath, her right arm plastered to her left side, a dark red stain spreading from underneath it. Gingerly she pulled her arm away from her wound, and looked at the deep red that painted her hand and forearm. Almost immediately she replaced her arm, pulling it away only once more to grab Raksha and heave him onto her back in a way that just barely kept him from face-planting again, and allowed her to keep her arm plastered to her wound.

They moved slowly away from the oasis town, mostly because they didn't have enough gald to stay the night at the inn, and Klara figured that as soon as Raksha woke up, they'd get her wound dressed and then be off again to see where they might next be useful. Sadly, they didn't get very far before they encountered a couple of scorpions, with a snake mixed in because obviously the universe figured the scorpions weren't tough enough. With her injury, and the weight of her best friend on her shoulders, she couldn't do more than hobble slowly through them and swing awkwardly with her staff. So she figured she had to lose the dead weight.

A groan escaped Klara as she heaved Raksha down, face up in the sand with herself standing over top of him. Thankfully she was right handed, her injury just below her ribcage on that same side, leaving her to attempt fighting one-handed. For a moment fear constricted her chest, but she widened her stance and leapt towards her three opponents. For a little while she did well, but when she heard Raksha groan softly, she became distracted. That was how she was found after the battle with a few more cuts, and feeling sluggish and sick. With a heavy sigh, she heaved her best friend onto her shoulders again, fighting dizziness with every step.

"My god you've gotten fat." She muttered, trying to distract herself as her footsteps left her hobbling through the heat. Sweat dripped from everywhere, getting into each of her wounds and making them sting. After what felt like hours, her legs couldn't hold her up any longer, and with a hoarse groan she fell into the sand, Raksha still on top of her. For an unknown amount of time she lay there, slowly falling towards unconsciousness, until a familiar shout pulled her attention away from the darkness that was trying to overtake her, and she lifted her head just barely to see several spots of color.

"Chess! Raksha!" Shouted the voice of Lloyd as his red outfit became larger the closer he got to her. Behind him, several other blobs of color came into view, a voice that Klara hadn't heard in person yet calling after him.

"Lloyd! Genis! You can't run ahead like that!" The voice chastised, but by the time that the other colorful blobs reached them and became something solid did Klara recognize Raine Sage, Colette Brunel and Kratos Aurion, all three staring in surprise and confusion at the two boys skidded to a stop in the sand on either side of her, worriedly fussing over her as they pulled Raksha from over top of her helped her stand.

"I see you've found your friend." She said, her voice no louder than a whisper, her voice coarse. Genis nodded, his face broadcasting worry like the loudest marquee sign. "You guys forgot to mention that she's pretty." She continued, grinning tiredly as Lloyd let out a mortified squawk and Genis shook his head. Colette, for her part, blushed a lovely shade of crimson at the praise, a small smile tugging at the edges of her lips despite the worry for a stranger.

"Even injured, you never change." Genis said, grinning despite the worry she could still see shining in his eyes. Klara looked at him in false shock, her right hand rising to lay over her heart.

"You wound me, little man, to think that I can't multitask! Not to mention the fact that I would never pass up the opportunity to make you both look like complete idiots!" She said dramatically, grinning lopsidedly as both Genis and Lloyd chuckled. However she doubled over in pain with a faint gasp, plastering her hand to her side as tightly as she could without shoving her arm into her torso, disguising the move by leaning down to pick up her staff from where it'd fallen.

"What were you doing out here anyway?" Lloyd asked, moving away from Klara to heave Raksha up so that he was partially carrying him. "And how much does he weigh?" He continued, his voice strained with the effort of carrying the older man.

"Not sure, but I was headed out after you. Got into a battle with a couple of scorpions and a snake, and collapsed out on the sand." She finished. Lloyd looked at her in surprise, while Genis looked at her in fear.

"With that wound from the people that took Lloyd?" The boy cried. Klara shrugged, as if it was no big deal and she did that kind of thing all the time, but it was far less effective as she winced.

"Someone had to." Was all she told him. Turning to the two boy's companions, she smiled kindly. "Sorry for ignoring you guys. I'm Chess and the guy Lloyd is carrying is Raksha. We were the two boy's guides to Triet and their temporary guardians, but since they found you we can get out of your way." She said easily. Lloyd and Genis looked at her with a mixture of shock and horror for a minute before leaping to speak. For a moment Klara felt bad for their three companions, who couldn't get a word in edge-wise despite the fact that Raine looked both irritated at being held up for so long, and intrigued at the fact that Chess was injured and still able to carry her unconscious companion through the desert near noon. Kratos just looked like he didn't care, although she swore she could see a flutter of worried surprise in his eyes. Colette just looked confused.

"You can't go!"  
>"Come with us!"<p>

Both boys said at the same time, the first being Genis. Klara simply smiled at them, the action making her look old and wise and kind. It looked like she was only humoring the two young men, and for a brief moment it seemed to frighten them. In that moment of worry, Genis leapt towards her to hug her around the waist, clinging tightly and giving her puppy dog eyes. Klara only smiled, and gently patted his shoulder in reassurance.

"If you really want us to go with you, make sure everyone else says it's okay." She said softly, looking tired. "And we'll pull our own weight." She continued, looking at Lloyd to drive her point. Both boys looked at each of their traveling companions, Raine speaking first.

"I'm not so sure about this. They're complete strangers, who knows what their goal is for helping you?" She said, looking extremely put out at the fact that Genis was clinging to the auburn haired woman. Lloyd looked back at Klara, as if he'd never truly thought about it, but planned to grill her about it.

"What are your intentions?" He asked, his face completely straight. For a moment Klara had the urge to laugh, but she knew that she would seem insane, and she really felt like she needed them to trust her. Feeling her wound pull again underneath Genis' arm, she sighed.

"To find a place where people understand that species don't matter, and where everyone can live happily." She answered, voice dripping with honesty. She just barely caught the sight of Kratos tensing nearly noticeably, his ruby eyes glued to her in interest and disbelief.

"That's...admirable." Raine finally said, looking at Klara with just a tiny bit less suspicion. When everyone's eyes (excluding Raksha's) landed on the purple clad mercenary he simply hummed lowly.

"It is ultimately the Chosen's decision." Was all he said. Klara felt a quick tickle at the back of her neck in familiarity. The man's voice was like liquified chocolate and smooth velvet at the same time. It was gorgeous, and the weakness of her knees were not completely from her injuries, of which she fought a wince when they lanced with pain again, causing her to lean a bit on her staff.

"I think they should come with us. Lloyd and Genis seem to like them, and they seem like really good people." She said, in a bright and happy voice. Klara smiled widely, and bowed from the waist, despite the pain it brought her.

"Then with you, we will travel." Klara said, with a smile full of finality. With such things settled, they began to head back to Triet in silence. However, Klara was slow going, hobbling as quickly as her wound would allow, since Noishe was supporting Raksha, over whom Lloyd had draped her friend. That left Kratos beside her, walking strangely slow for such a tall man.

"Isn't that right Chess?" Genis' voice called. She refocused, bringing the figures ahead of her into sharp contrast. Colette looked at her with a smile, while Lloyd had a heavy blush on his face.

"What? Wasn't paying attention kiddo, sorry." She told him. Kratos' eyes fell onto her, and she noticed that his body began to subtly turn towards her in what appeared to be concern.

"Isn't it true that I helped you and Raksha take on fifteen Desians?" Genis asked, eagerly. Klara chuckled, wincing slightly as she did so.

"Very true, but was it really fifteen? It didn't feel like nearly that many." She said, smirking weakly. Genis rolled his eyes, but smirked in a way that made him look much more mischievous than he really should, and quite a bit older.

"Of course it wouldn't, you only knocked out a few." He laughed. She narrowed her eyes playfully, but stumbled a bit as her legs quickly became unsteady. Kratos looked towards her in something akin to worry before it morphed into shock. Because at that moment, in mid-step, Klara collapsed. Only his quick reflexes had him catching her before she hit the ground, scooping her up into his arms as her eyes shut with unconsciousness.

_It was the fourth day of the Strangers' stay. By then the princess knew each of their names, and had devised a plot with the queen to have a ball, of which the reason was not forthcoming. Of course, the group of travelers were invited, and each given something suitable to wear to a ball, the princess desperately hoping that they each knew how to dance._

_That was how she found herself dressed in something that looked like a gown made solely of sunlight and starlight, corseted around her torso with sheer sleeves that were so see through that it looked like her skin was given a golden sheen. The skirt was layered, the lowest once again being gold, with shimmering white-silver accents that dripped from the corset at varying levels, the skirt long enough to hide her feet, while something similar to a shimmering golden and white-silver sheer cape was clipped to the top of her corset in the back, dragging on the floor several feet behind her. In her hair was her tiara, the rest of her hair pulled back from the front, small hair clips threaded into the strands._

_Her eyes drew over the people in the ballroom, and finally they rested on the four travelers, each done up wonderfully. Mithos was dressed in a young man's suit, colored an icy blue that looked rather dashing, his bangs falling around his face while the rest was pulled back at the nape of his neck in a short ponytail, bringing his bright eyes into focus. His sister Martel wore a beautiful slip of a dress that was slim around her body all the way to her waist, where it just barely began to flow outwards, enough to flutter around her knees should she spin, the color a startling grass green, with white embroidery that looked an awful lot like swirling vines and leaves._

_Yuan and Kratos wore something a bit more simple, both managing to pull off their looks flawlessly. The blue-haired man had his hair pulled back in his usual manner, and he wore a pair of simple slacks and a white-gold dress shirt with subtle color changes. Although he was handsome, the princess found that the one who got her heart thundering in her chest was Kratos, who wore slim brown pants with his boots over them, a matching brown turtleneck with a tan jacket that fit him snugly, with short sleeves and buttoning across one side of his chest with a few buttons. He'd ditched his gloves and his hair was once again falling over his eyes and making a faint blush dust across her cheeks._

_However, she couldn't acknowledge their presence because, as princess, she was supposed to be orderly and dignified, and a bunch of other useless annoying, war preventing things. So to stay true to her duties, she stood beside her mother and greeted her people, along with some foreign dignitaries that she hadn't known existed._

_"Pardon me your highness, but would you care to dance?" Came the smooth voice that the princess immediately recognized as Kratos. With a quick glance to her right, where her best friend and captain of the royal guard stood, she relaxed a hint at the nod he sent her way, and turned back to the man that was bowed just slightly from the waist, hand extended towards her. With a smile that conveyed kindness but hid just how overjoyed she was at the prospect of getting away from that damned dais, she slid her hand into his._

_"I suppose so." She answered, noticing that his lips tugged up just slightly at the corners. Without anymore speech, he led her towards where several people were dancing, some gracefully and some foolishly. His arm wrapped around her lower back and his hand pulled hers out into the air to their sides. Music picked up around them, and he began moving. The two of them glided across the floor, her bare feet often peeking out and the scrawling metalwork glinting whenever it was exposed to light._

_"You looked like you needed a rescue." His deep voice hummed in her ear, as they danced chest to chest, as close as a pair of romantics. She giggled, despite the blush that spread across her cheeks (and the imperceptible shiver that rushed down her spine)._

_"And you decided that you were the perfect one to do so?" She asked, taking note of his smirk that seemed to widen at that. "My hero." She finished, giggling again as his rumbling chuckle tickled her chest. He spun her away for a moment, the skirt of her dress swirling, and her sheer cape just barely catching up with her, hugging the side of her legs._

_"I'm glad you think so." He said, that smirk of his making him look dangerously sexy. She grinned as he spun her back into place against him, and they continued to dance well into the night, exchanging playful comments and friendly jabs. It was then that the princess really began to fall for the mercenary in purple._

**I'm not completely happy with it, but it's done. Hopefully I can churn out another one (possibly better) soon. Again I'm sorry for the long wait!**

**~V**


	6. Chapter 6

**Wow, it took forever to get this chapter out! I've lost my inspiration for this and have taken interest in a bunch of other stuff (when I'm not stuck doing my homework for college. Go higher education *eye roll*.) So updates are going to be very few and far between.**

**I would like to personally thank all of you readers that have stuck with this story.**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own anything more than a copy of the game. If I did then Zelos would be a little classier.  
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**So, without further ado...**

Chapter 6

Klara awoke slowly to a jab at her shoulder, feeling very much like the toe of a boot. She thought briefly of moving, swatting at whatever it was perhaps, but the dizziness she felt kept her from doing so, feeling like she was on a tilt-o-whirl despite the fact that she was completely still. The jab came again, and through the cotton in her head she could hear voices.

"Are you sure you should be kicking her like that?" It was a female voice, high enough to signify youth.

"It's fine, we do this all the time." Came a familiar voice, but one she couldn't place despite the feeling that she really knew this person, and should be able to recognize them. With another jab to her shoulder, she groaned and opened her eyes. A laugh sounded, but she couldn't see much more than what looked like a bunch of blue.

"Asshole." She ground out, sitting up with a hand to her head, trying to blink away the fogginess of her vision. "Gawd, what happened? I feel like I got run over by a steamroller, and then squished by a goddamn whale." She moaned, moving to stand up. "And why the hell were you kicking me?" She asked, looking at the tall form of her best friend, the images that she was seeing remaining blurry.

"Seems you had a bad injury in your side and became poisoned shortly after. And I was kicking you to get you up." Was his simple reply, sounding very nonchalant to their traveling companions. Only Klara was able to pick out the faintest of twitches to his smile, a trait that let her know he was lying about being nonchalant and most probably a trait he didn't know she knew he had. She shrugged, smirking a bit.

"Oh, if that's all." She laughed, her vision finally clearing enough for her to make out facial expressions. Lloyd looked worried, despite the small smile that seemed to be tugging at his lips. Genis was shaking his head, smiling only a little bit wider than his friend while Colette looked downright fearful. As usual Kratos seemed unfazed, but Raine looked downright curious.

"We're off to the Fire Seal as soon as you eat something." Raksha told her. She raised an eyebrow, as if in confusion, before she looked towards Lloyd and his two best friends, as if she were silently demanding clarification. Genis and Lloyd seemed to smile sheepishly at her, the older of the two rubbing his neck while the silver haired boy rubbed his hands, both believing her look to be one of accusation.

"Sorry we didn't tell you, we weren't sure if you were good guys or not." Genis attempted to explain. Raksha shrugged, and Klara huffed as she stood slowly, making sure to stretch out as many muscles as she could distinctly control, groaning softly when some of them pulled unhappily, including her half-healed injury. Everyone seemed to be watching her in interest as she finally stood completely straight, pausing enough to mentally ensure she wasn't about to fall over with the next few steps she'd be taking. Letting out an explosive sigh, she walked towards their small fire, where she noticed that someone had set up what looked like a deep pot.

"A-are you sure you should be walking around? Your injuries seemed pretty bad." Colette asked meekly. Klara shrugged, and grinned.

"I probably shouldn't be, but I'm not going to drag you all down by crying over it. Wounds heal, and we're on a time crunch, it seems." She said easily, pulling her arms up to stretch the muscles while she waited on the smaller of the two young men to hand her the bowl of whatever he'd made. She accepted it with a small and genuine 'thanks' before promptly digging in. The differing looks that she garnered from the other people of the group were either not caught by her, or willfully ignored.

"You and your friend are awfully... relaxed about all of this." Raine commented, looking closely at the two of them. Both smiled slightly and shrugged in synchronization at her scrutiny.

"Well, it's pointless to just laze around with healing as an excuse, leaving you guys to worry about her and pick up her slack. Especially since Lloyd and Genis fought so hard to keep us with you guys. So, she'll take it slow, fight in reserve and only when she needs to." Raksha tried to reason. That logic seemed to relax their companions, even though the two friends knew that Klara would do no such thing if she could help it.

And it certainly made their journey a bit more difficult. With Colette worrying herself nearly sick over the older woman, Raksha and Klara were both forced to fight near the young woman, to allow the defense of said young woman as her worry began to severely disable her ability to fight. Frequently the two of them exchanged exasperated eye-rolls when no one was looking, because what Colette failed to notice was the seamless teamwork between the two of them, as if they'd fought together for years, covering whatever weaknesses the other one had.

With that, their journey continued much the same way as it had when Lloyd and Genis were traveling with them, only much more annoying. Klara hadn't truly realized how annoyingly sweet Colette was when it was just a videogame, or how overly curious Raine tended to be. So, to attempt maintaining her sanity she would walk near Kratos most of the time, his slightly intimidating nature leaving her with blessed quiet and without the need to continuously focus on whatever Colette was babbling about (most often being her injuries).

"Hey Chess..." Came the almost contemplative voice of Lloyd. Klara turned her eyes to the young man in curiosity, the very edges of her lips twisted upwards from smiling so often.

"Yes Lloyd?" She asked easily. He was looking between Raksha and Klara with interested eyes for a moment before he spoke again, surprising the both of them with his question.

"Where are you guys from? I mean you've heard about us, but we don't know anything about you but your names." He said, both Raksha and Klara looking at each other. She opened her mouth to answer, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but at that precise moment her memory began to blur. All she could remember was warmth and light, and vague shapes. It seemed that Raksha had the same problem because he gave her a confused glance.

"We don't know. All we can remember is that we're supposed to stick together." She answered, her confusion giving her words a ring of truth that no one could refute. No one seemed to notice the slight furrowing of Kratos' eyebrows and his frown twitching a little deeper. Both Klara and Raksha's memory cleared once the question passed, and they once again knew themselves as the two videogame addicts from Earth.

"Oh." Lloyd looked highly apologetic, while Raine seemed to take pity on them and Colette looked just short of tears. The overly emotional girl caused Raksha to nervously chuckle and Klara to give her a small and slightly uncomfortable smile. With a rolling of her eyes, Klara shifted quietly until she was behind Raksha, before leaping nimbly onto his back, her arms winding tightly around his neck as her legs locking around his ribs. He let out an 'oof' as he leaned forward from the waist from the surprise attack.

"You guys are too serious." She said, grinning as Raksha finally got his feet under him. Everyone seemed to stare at them for a minute, just blinking, before Lloyd grinned as Genis attempted to do the same thing to him, but managing to miss entirely and landing on his face, making everyone but Kratos laugh.

Their journey continued through the blazing sun, the atmosphere kept somewhat light by both Raksha and Klara as they bantered back and forth (him still carrying her) and making their day go by just a little bit quicker, despite the buckets of sweat that rolled down their bodies. Only when the sun went down did it begin to cool down, and they quickly made camp.

It was quiet around the fire then, as dinner was passed around. Another fantastic meal done by Genis, curry this time she believed, and it was absolutely delicious, as usual from the boy. What wasn't usual was her silence, accompanied by Raksha's, the two of them locked within their own minds. Raksha was worried about what would become of the two of them, because that slip of fuzzy memories that encompassed all others while trying to solidify and show them something? It couldn't have been an accident.

Klara was thinking about what was going to happen, the future an uncertainty. Things were so much more now, it was real. Both she and Raksha could die, and she wasn't sure she was prepared for that. Those very thoughts swirled inside her mind, keeping her awake with thoughts of what could happen and what she would do should it come to pass. Next thing she knew, it was sunrise, and they were on their way again.

She'd been so engrossed in her thoughts, she hadn't taken notice of the garnet eyes that had settled on her sometime in the evening and remained there even after the sun had long risen, the thoughts that belonged to the owner of the dark eyes revolving around the woman as well.

It didn't take them too much longer to reach the seal Klara noticed, a fact that surprised her. She walked beside Kratos again, the man somehow managing to match her strides despite the fact that somehow she knew that his normal stride was at least a little faster than the one he used to walk beside her. Despite her curiosity, she was very careful to make sure she didn't call him out on it.

Turned out, she didn't have to.

"Kratos, why're you and Chess walking so slow?" Lloyd asked. Raksha turned his head just a little to look at her, taking quick notice of the fact that he was lagging just as much as Klara.

"It seems that I've made myself weary staying up last night. I'm sure I'll feel better by this afternoon. Chess was simply walking beside me." He said easily. Klara glanced at him, her eyes narrowed just a little. The man gave her a level look, something in his eyes asking her to go along with it. Why he didn't want them to think that he was being kind to her, slowing_ himself_ to walk beside _her_, she had no idea.

"Yeah, we can't leave anybody behind." She said, smiling innocently. Anything to make him appear more human than usual, she guessed. Lloyd smiled, nodding while Genis looked at the two of them carefully before letting the barest of sighs out of his chest. Colette just looked confused while Raine seemed to understand that Klara wasn't one hundred percent yet and that Kratos was only being nice, but she said absolutely nothing. As their focus returned to the entrance of the Fire Seal, Klara let out a snicker, glancing at Kratos.

"You'd think we were making out with the way they looked at us." Klara whispered, Kratos' lips pulling up at the corners for a second or two, sending her heart aflutter as he breathed out a chuckle.

"Indeed. One has to wonder what goes through their minds for them to get a look like that." He murmured. Klara was startled into another snicker by his sense of humor. The game certainly hadn't made him out to be anything more than overly serious.

"Maybe we should be the ones doing the interrogating?" She asked. Another smirk flashed across his face, but this time looking a bit more like a crooked smile to her as he chuckled again, shrugging a bit.

"But then they could get the same idea about us." He replied. She grinned, and nodded her consent.

"Too true." She said, just as the large slab over the entrance opened up to reveal a wide set of stairs that led down into darkness with a wave of hot air, quite the feat with them in the desert. With a glance at each other, Kratos and Klara stepped down into the stone structure side by side, the air getting hotter and thicker the further in they got. When they finally reached the bottom of the steps, even Kratos seemed to be sweating.

"And so it begins." Klara murmured under her breath, tightening her grip on her staff in the low light. Kratos let a smirk settle onto his face, and he leaned towards her enough that allowed his lips to be near her ear.

"Don't worry. I'll protect you." His voice could barely be heard, but her eyes widened and a dark blush raced onto her cheeks. She rolled her eyes in an attempt to downplay her reaction.

"My hero." She muttered playfully, glancing at him in worry when he froze. After a brief second, just before she could ask him if he was okay, he smiled. It was so raw and hopeful and true that it took her breath away.

She couldn't help but notice that he seemed just a bit more relaxed as he walked just fast enough that she had to practically speed walk to make sure she didn't fall behind. Her eyes rolled when she wondered in the back of her mind how Genis, with his much shorter legs, managed to walk nearly twice as fast. Her injury never seemed to cross her mind.

**Thanks again, and please review!**

**~V**


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